New TV show: ‘Please Like Me’ on Pivot TV, and we do!

PHOTO CAPTIONIn this publicity image released by Pivot, (clockwise from left), Nikita Leigh-Pritchard (as Niamh), Wade Briggs (as Geoffrey) Josh Thomas (as Josh) and Thomas Ward (as Tom) are shown in a scene from “Please Like Me,” a comedy-drama from 25-year-old Australian comedian Josh Thomas. The series will air in back-to-back episodes on Aug. 1 at 8pm ET/7pm CT on Pivot.CR: Pivot/Giovanni Lovisetto

“Please Like Me” is not only the title of a terrific new sitcom on Pivot TV, but also the fervent request by the brand new channel itself. Pivot launches Thursday as an arm of Participant Media, the company behind the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” and Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” among others.

The new channel aims at a demographic known far too preciously as “millennials,” possibly one of the most loathsome words in popular culture other than “literally.” And yes, dammit, I mean that literally. It’s a word the boyish but not that young network president Evan Shapiro tosses around like the verbal equivalent of the Holy Grail.

The new channel targets viewers 18 to 34, and has a strong social component as part of its mission. Members of the Pivot panel at the Television Critics Association crowed that members of the M-word generation are the most politically aware of all time.

Yep. Heard that before. Said it myself about my own generation, as has every generation going back to Alexander the Great, who was part of another M-word demo.

But if the rest of Pivot’s offerings are as good as its original sitcom, “Please Like Me,” I’ll literally start using “millennials” with a smile on my face– my way older than 34 face, I may add.

“Please Like Me” is the braindchild of Australian comic Josh Thomas, based on his own social awkwardness. Not a terribly new idea, but when it’s treated intelligently and enacted by a lovable sad sack named Josh Thomas, it can be irresistible.

Now that we’ve used the M word, we have to use the L word. No, I don’t mean love, although I do love the two episodes of “Please Like Me” made available to critics. I mean L as in Lena. Because, yes, this show might just be what Lena Dunham would come up with if she were a gangly Australian comedian writing a series about emotional stasis among boys and “Girls.”

The show opens with Josh’s girlfriend, Claire (Caitlin Stasey) breaking up with him over dessert at an outdoor cafe. He never realized their relationship had been drifting, he says. “The nature of drifting, it happens over time and one day you order a 19-dollar sundae and you’re finished,” he says.

She says Josh is gay. News to him, he answers, unconvincingly.

At the office, he chats up his friend Tom (Thomas Ward), who says once again he plans on breaking up with his girlfriend, which he never does. A new employee named Geoffrey (Wade Briggs) walks in and promptly breaks down crying. He invites himself to dinner that night with Tom and Josh and then invites himself to sleep over.

In Josh’s room.

He puts the moves on Josh, who doesn’t exactly respond. Rather, here, as in all situations, it seems, he acquiesces. Until the mole on his lip starts bleeding. Conveniently.

Geoffrey is absurdly attractive, which is one of the reasons Josh is reluctant to pursue anything with him. “I never really trust when someone that good looking is into me,” he says.

He more or less accepts that he may be gay because that’s how he approaches his entire life: More or less.

“I just really think I’m going to miss vaginas,” he says. “They make so much sense, you know? They’re nifty.”

Other plot developments unfold casually, regardless of how much they may be anything but casual events. Josh’s mum (Debra Lawrence) OD’s on drugs and Bailey’s, his divorced Dad (David Roberts) thinks he may have caused the apparent suicide attempt because he has a new girlfriend, even though he’s never told his ex-wife he has a girlfriend. Geoffrey continues to pursue Josh who makes every excuse he can think of to keep his distance.

And millennial life goes on.

The humor is subtle, almost deadpan, but brilliant at every turn. Some moments become excruciating to watch, only because we’ve formed an immediate affection for Josh and hate seeing him screw things up for himself.

Now, we need to talk about how to find the show. It’s rather easy. Go here to the Pivot site, hit the Find in Your Area refer and put in your zip code and cable carrier if you want to watch on TV. Or you can just go to the site and watch episodes directly.

Pivot has six episodes available now and has ordered up a 10-episode second season.

Season 1 will air as a series marathon at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times, and 7 p.m. Central on Thursday, Aug. 1.